Eurovision may not be taken as seriously as organisers would hope, but love it or hate it, many people will watch just to see the sometimes bonkers entrants shake their stuff on the main stage.

You might be surprised to hear it, but the UK is one of the more successful countries when it comes to the giddy heights of Eurovision with a whopping five wins since 1959 - and runner up 15 whole times.

But we haven't always done quite so well - let's not forget the 'nul points' debacle of 2003 at the hands of Liverpudlian musical duo Jemini and of course, finishing right at the bottom of the pile in 2008 and 2010.

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From Bucks Fizz to Daz Sampson, the UK has offered its neighbours in Europe some interesting delicacies across the 61-year history of the Eurovision song contest .

Ahead of tonight's grand finale, we take a look at the UK's most successful and most tragic attempts at wooing the continent in the competition.

Sandie Shaw, 1967

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After several second-placed finishes, the UK scored its first winner in 1967 as psychotherapist-turned-singer Sandie Shaw scored big with Puppet On A String.

Cliff Richard, 1968

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A year later Sir Cliff Richard (just known as Cliff back then) has represented Britain twice at the contest, finishing a respectable second and third with Congratulations in 1968 and later, Power To All Our Friends in 1973. Losing out to the Spanish entry, Massiel and her song La La La La in '68, an emotional Cliff described having to lock the doors of the green room toilets to avoid TV cameras filming him crying.

Lulu, 1969

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Britain's prolific success continued as LuLu 's Boom Bang-A-Bang shared the prize with France, Netherlands and Spain with 18 points apiece. The Scottish singer, as we all know, went on to record the self-titled soundtrack to The Man with the Golden Gun.

Brotherhood Of Man, 1976

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Another UK victory came in 1976 with Brotherhood Of Man's Save Your Kisses For Me. The band's manager Tony Hiller put the song's success down to their TV appearances across France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland the year before the contest.

Bucks Fizz, 1981

The quartet's skirt-ripping entry, Making Your Mind Up, won the contest in 1981. The band were formed specifically to enter the contest and their stage act, where the two male members ripped off the skirts of Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston, has gone down in Eurovision history.

Katrina and The Waves, 1997

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Katrina and The Waves were the last British act to take the title, with their entry Love Shine a Light in 1997. It may have been the heyday of Britpop back home, but this gentle clap-along ballad was lapped up by the European public in a way that no British entry has ever managed since.

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Jemini, 2003

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Years of disappointment have followed since the UK's last victory 20 years ago. However by far the most disheartening year was the infamous 'nul points' for Jemini which left Britons weeping into their snack bowls. The duo's Cry Baby failed to get a single point for the first time in the UK's history, finishing last in the 26-nation competition held in Latvia. To add insult to injury, the band's dressing room was vandalised as they gave interviews following their defeat.

Daz Sampson, 2006

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Oh, Britain. Daz Sampson and his tragically-named Sampsonites (young women dressed as schoolgirls) was perhaps one of the worst songs inflicted on the rest of Europe . But the UK's biggest sin was not allowing Sampson to perform his feign-rap infront of our continental neighbours. The real damage had already been done after Teenage Life became a top ten hit in the UK singles chart.

Scooch, 2007

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Ten years after Katrina And The Waves swept to victory, the UK sent its most kitsch entrant yet with Steps-lite act Scooch. The camp quartet and their air stewards outfits came a lowly 22nd with their entry, Flying the Flag (For You). They received only 19 points, which included a maximum 12 points from Malta, who later revealed it was a protest vote against block voting.

Engelbert Humperdinck, 2012

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Veteran crooner Engelbert Humperdinck fared no better in 2012, when his entry, Love Will Set You Free, only narrowly avoided finishing rock-bottom. 'The Hump' scored a grant total of 12 points, with only Belgium, Estonia, Latvia and Ireland voting for him, leaving him just one position above bottom-placed Norway in Baku, Azerbaijan.